TOMCCO 

How to Cultivate, Cure 
and Prepare for Market. 



White Buriey Tobacco and its Culture. 
Seed Leaf Tobacco and its Culture. 



BY 

j. B. KILLEBREW. A. M., Ph. D. 

EXPERT ON TOBACXIO FOR 
TENTH CENSUS. 



Issued By 
The Fertilizer ManufaChirers' 

205 La SaHp^(rcel 
CHICAcb ^ 



TOBACCO: HOW TO CULTIVATE, CURL AND PRE 
PARE FOR MARKET. 

By J. B. Kiilebrew. A. N., Ph. D., Expert on Tobacco for Tenth Census. 

Tobprcu IS one of the most, iniportaru crops that enter into the 
oomme e of nations. It is used in every country, from the most 
savage to the niost civilized. Unknown by th natior,; oi the Old 
World, prior to the discovery of America, is is now used b\ the 
.unnan family more than any other article, except tea and salt. 
Whether it be a good or an evil, it is the least injurious of all the 
narcotics or stimulants. It does not affect the moral sense like 
spirituous liquors, opium, hasheesh, cocaine and other drugs of like 
character, and there is no doubt of the fact that its effect is to lessen 
:he appitite for more injurious substances. 

Tobacco belongs to the nightshade family, and boi^ i^ically is akin 
to the Irish potato, tomato, red pepper and Jimpson v^'ecd, all native 
products o£ America. 

Tlie plant was first < ti.i.'.^L.,.; li\ lih- rmunists in Virginia in 
1586, but did not become of commercial or social imv'>r,ti'''<i< i-- ^ ' 
twenty of thirty years later when a growing European dcnand made 
it a remunerative crop. It was the prime factor in iiaking tbf set- 
clement of \'irginia a permanency. It was almost lie only crop of 
the first settlers that could furnish the means for tuying nearly all 
the necessities required in a new country. From 3 small beginninf^, 
its cultivati(^n has extended until the world's rroduction -.ow 
amounts to 2,500,000,000 pounds, uf which the Un r-d States pro- 
duced, ui 1904, 660,460,739 lbs. grown on 806.409 a .•^. In ji^^j 
868,163,275 pounds were grow' on 1,101,483 acres. Kenv\\;kv le'1 
all the States with 314,288.050 is ; North Carolina second \v 
503,400 lbs; \'irginia third >oth tj2,884,900 lbs. Then ^ine in 
the order of their rank ' 'hio. To lossce, Pennsylvania. aryland. 
South Carolina, Connecticut an York. No other ' ates pro- 

duce as much as 10,000,00^ lbs. iht total value of '' '^f 1899 

:n farmers' hands was $^ -993j003. 

MA NG PLANT BEDS. 

The first and most i: :)rtant stej) in.t)ro(i.;cin|c rop^of lobacco 
is to have an abundanc of ^^ood, stratg, -10: ky p:;ints. : he land 
selected for a plant h. a should b< "' - n soil witk a slightly 
Southern exposure, if , ■s'^ible, in the youn^f lants may 

_. _-. ^aK^'. ..£i' 



2 ^ ' 'mcco, Ha^< tfi Cudf^jft^, Cnre and Prepare for Market. 

g^et the benefit or the warm rays of the sun in early spring. This 
is anportaut to bring them forward as cafly as possible. The soil 
ould "be a rich, fertile, black loam. Black is preferable because it 
jsorbs more heat from the rays of the sun than does any other 
color, and brings forward the plants several days sooner, which is 
much to be desired by the tobacco grower. 

After the wild growth has been cut oflF and the leaves and trash 
removed, brush and wood should be piled on the surface in suffi- 
cient quantity to burn the top earth to a reddish tinge or soft-brick 
color. After the bed has cooled, and' without removing the ashes, it 
should be coultere<l or dug up with grubbing hoes, frequentl;' raked 
and chopped over with weeding hoes, until the surface is thoroughly 
pulverized. AH roots should be removed, as well as lumps of up- 
turned clay. When nicely prepared mark ofif beds four feet wide, 
for CC1T enieince of sowing. 

C)i ' heaping ta^lespoonful of seed is enough to sow ten yards 
square or loo square yards. The seed should be mixed with a peck 
or ;no e of meal, ashes or land planter (^ facilitate its even distribu- 
tion On ♦^lirc ^f^l. To ititiXt. surcly insure this even distribution, the 
bed should be town first one way and then cross-sown. After the 
sowin.^ tramp or lightly rake the bed with a fine garden rake and 
then cover with canvas. The edges of the canvas should be tacked 
to a frame mace of scantlings or poles that should form a frame 
arourid the bed. A few bent arches made of wire or switches should 
be stuck over tf^e bed to hold the canvas off the surface. A French 
dug on the upper side of the bed is necessary to protect it from the 
' ~ > r>i t!ie surface water, that is apt to collect the seed in 

the low places of the beds. 
liedAshould be burned as eail^ as possible when the land is suffi- 
ciently div after the Christmas holidays. Those burned and sowed 
in Fehrulrv nnd March, when suiuibly prepared, always do best. 
Be careful use too many seed. When this is done the plants 

are '=;o crcwded that they grow up with <Jelicate, fragile stalks anc 
are : ible tu resist the shock of transplanting as well as stockjei 



plants. 



\ 

PR^ FARATION 01 SOILS FOR HEAVY SHIPPING 

TOBACCO. ' 

A rich loose, weH •4*'a''^ed, clayey soil is best adapted to th 
growth of heavy shipping t -iacco. Old land that has grown a cro 



Tobacco, Hozc to Ciillivah', Cure and Prepare for Market. 3 

oi ciover or cowpeas the preceding year, broken up in the fall, well 
manured, either before breaking or after, with a liberal application 
of stable manure is found most favorable to the production of the 
heaviest types of tobacco. New ground tobacco is generally brighter 
in color and smaller in yield than that grown on old manured lots. 
Fall breaking with three horses on deep soils is important, because 
it destroys to a large extent the cut worms that prey upon the young 
plants after the}- are transplanted. In March the land should be 
rebroken with a two-horse plow and frequent working with a heavy 
tooth or disc harrow is necessary to put the land in a fine condition 
of tilth. 

FERTILIZING. HILLING AND PLANTING. 

All the accumulations of ashes, tobacco stalks and scraps should 
be scattered over the land before harrowing. These will be found 
a most valuable addition to the stable manure that should always be 
applied in the fall. When it is put on the land in the spring, it has 
a tendency to make the tobacco plant spot, and it grows with so 
much rapidity that, though the leaves may have ample size, they 
will be lacking in bodv and in finish when the tobacco is cured. 

When the plants in the seed bed show leaves as large as a quarter 
of a dollar, it is time to begin to lay oft the land preparatory to fer- 
tilizing the same and the making of hills. Usually furrows are run 
'^oth ways across the land three and a half feet apart with a single 
.orse plow, and at the points of intersection of the rows fertilizers 
are dropped ranging in quantity from a tablespoonful to a small 
handful. From 150 to 500 pounds are used to the acre, the quantity 
being regulated to some extent by the strength of the soil and by the 
amount of stable or other manures previously applied. 

In the yellow tobacco regions of North Carolina and in the seed- 
leaf districts of Pennsylvania as much as 700 to 800 pounds per 
acre are applied with most satisfactory results. The best artificial 
fertilizer for tobacco contains the following: 

Phosphc ric acid 8 per cent 

Ammonia 2 per cent 

Potash 10 per cent 

This is varied by a reduction of the amount of potash to 8 per 

cent, V. hich, while it lessens the cost, reduces its value as a fertilizer. 

It is not a wise or economical policy to reduce the percentage of 



4 Tobacco, How to Cultivate, Cure and Prepare for Market. 

potash, as this is by far the most valuable ingredient that ciVcrs into 
a fertilizer for tobacco. 

Manural applications are rarely made on freshly cleared land., 
except in the yellow tobacco growing regions on yellowish or whit- 
ish soils where they are found to be of the greater benefit in giving 
vitality and finish to the tobacco. Nessler, Schloesing and other 
chemists have demonstrated that the combustibility or burning qual- 
ities of tobacco are greatly impaired by the use of any fertilizer 
containing chlorine. Chlorides, such as common salt, muriate of 
potash, kainit and many other fertilizers containing any form of 
chlorine should not be employed in growing tobacco. Nitrate of 
potash, though costly, is an excellent fertilizer for tobacco, as are 
also cotton seed meal, tankage, dried blood, sulphate of ammonia and 
nitrate of soda. 

Low, wide, flat hills should be made at the crossing of the rows 
and the fertilizer should be well intermixed with the dirt that goes 
to form the hills. Each hill should be cut ofif and patted with the 
hoe. 

The use of fertilizers for the growing of tobacco hastens for- 
ward the crop at least two weeks or more. It also adds greatly to 
the yield of the crop and to the quality of the product. Lands that 
under ordinary conditions would make a yield of poor papery to- 
bacco lacking in gummy or oily matters and unfitted for shipping 
purposes, may be made to produce a very high type c^f tobacco by 
the liberal application of a well-compounded fertilizer with suitable 
ingredients. It is now a rare thing to plant tobacco vithout using 
some fertilizer. It not only improves the quality and increases the 
weight of the cured tobacco, but it gives an early start to the plant, 
which soon grows large enough to withstand the ravages of grass- 
hoppers and other insects. 

After the hills are made,' the quicker the plants are set out the 
better. During the first half of May there is usually enough humid- 
ity in the soil to make the transplanting safe without rain. It is 
best, however, to set out immediately after a rain, provided the fall 
of rain is not so heavy as to thoroughly soak the ground. In this 
case it is better to wait until the excessive water is drained away. 
A peg an inch or an inch and a half in diameter and six or eight 
inches long and sloped for one-third of the length to a blunt puhit, 
is used for setting out the plants. A hole is made with it in the 



Tobacco, Horc to CuUivale, Cure and Prepare for Market. 5 

lull into which the roots of the plants are thrust. The dirt is then 
pressed to the plant by the thumb on one side and the peg on the 
other. One person usually drops for two setting out. A hand plant, 
that is an extra plant to begin with, facilitates greatly the planting, 
as it may be adjusted in the hand in passing from one hill to another. 
The plant dropped on one hill is the one set out in the next. 

CULTIVATION OF THE CILOP. 

In about; eight to ten days after the plants are set out in the open 
field, they will be so well established that cultivation should begin 
by running a furrow on each side of the row with a single horse 
turning plow, the bar of the plow being run as closely as possible 
to the plants without disturbing the roots and so endangering their 
vitality. This leaves a narrow ridge with the plants standing on it. 
Hoes are then brought into requisition to scrape away any grass or 
weeds that may have made their appearance. It is a good practice 
to draw a little dirt up around the plants after breaking the crusi 
V 'lirh generally crowns the top of the ridge. This initial working 
probably the most important. For subsequent working cultivators 
may be run at intervals of a week or ten days both ways through 
the tobacco. This is especially important after every rain. It is now 
the practice of the best tobacco growers to use level cultivation. It 
was once thought necessary to put a supporting hill around each 
plant at the last cultivation. This practice has been abandoned be- 
cause it diminishes the area of range for the roots of the plants and 
also lessens the amount of humidity within reach of the roots and 
this huniidity grows more important as the leaves expand. The land 
should never be worked when it is wet. When the plants have at- 
tained a size that makes it impossible to use a plow or cultivator 
v/ithout damage from the breakage of leaves, it will be found ad- 
vantageous to cut out with hoes or to pull up with the hands any 
grass, weeds or bushes that may spring up. Every alien growth will 
'iamage the quality of the tobacco. 

TOPPING TOBACCO. 

The cultivation of the crop usually extends to the time of gen- 
eral topping. Topping is the pinching out of the terminal bud of 
the plant, leaving from ten to twelve leaves on the stalk. A few of 
the leaves next to the ground arc first taken ofiF, leaving the stalk 
Sare for five inches above the ground. This is called priming, be- 
cause it removes the first leaves. It is often done before the period 



6 Tobacco, How to Cultivate, Cure and Prepare for Market. 

of topping so that the dirt may be thrown up against the stalk. Some 
planters, however, do not prime at all, and top at about the same 
height as if primed.* To top so as to leave ten leaves on the stalk, 
it is only necessary for the topper to observe the arrangement of the 
two lower leaves. The ninth and tenth leaves in ascending order will 
hang directly above the first and second. If the bud is pulled out 
above these ten leaves will remain. Tobacco should always be 
topped when the terminal bud is visible and this process should 
never be delayed until thejblossoms appear. It is not only a waste 
of the vital energy of the plant to wait for the blossom to appear 
but the scar made in breaking off these always remains to mar the 
beauty and symmetry of the upper part of the plant. 

SUCKERING AND WORMING. 

In a few days after the plant is topped lateral shoots or suckers 
will begin to grow from the axilla of each leaf. These must be re- 
moved before they attain the length of two inches or more. This 
work must be done at least once a week until the tobacco ripens. To 
permit the suckers to grow will be to diminish the weight and qual- 
ity of the tobacco, making it, when cured, thin and chaffy. Suckers 
appropriate the substance of the leaves to their own growth and ab- 
sorb the vitalizing sap that should go to the generation of oily sub- 
stances for the thickening and the maturing of the leaves. 

Simultaneously with the removal of the suckers the horn worm- 
should be sought after and destroyed. There is no enemy so much 
to be dreaded by the tobacco grower as this insect. The moth of the , 
larva is a dusky brown-winged miller nearly as large as a humming 
bird. It may be seen almost any evening in July and August hov- 
ering over and sucking the blossoms of the Jimpson weeds, 
petunias and other kindred blossoms. This moth dej^osits a small 
greenish ^%'g upon the surface of the leaf, which will j^radually turn 
to a light yellowish color, from which in a short time issues a tiny 
cream-colored worm not larger than a horse hair in diameter and 
about one-eighth of an inch long. It begins to eat as soon as it 
leaves the ^^g shell, and unless caught will continue its ravages 
until fully grown, which requires about three weeks. 

Some interesting experiments on the Hfe-history of this insect 
have been made by the Director of the Agricultural Station of Ken- 
tucky. He thinks there are three broods of worms that make their 
appearance instead of two, as commonly believed. The number. 



I'obacco, How to L'nliii'alc, LutT and J'rcparejor Markti. 7 

however, may vary with the character of the weather. The experi- 
ments systematically conducted at this station demonstrated the vir- 
tue of sprinkling the plants with Paris green for the destruction of 
tion of this dreaded pest. About one pound of Paris green to i6o 
gallons of water will be sufftciently strong. Three sprinklings should 
be made ; one early in July and two in August, about the first and 
15th of the month. The thing to do is to apply the poison as soon 
as the young worms begin to appear and continue at intervals until 
the tobacco is housed. 

It was once thought the use of Paris green on tobacco would 
subject the users to the danger of being poisoned, but is has been 
shown that the amount of poison left on the cured leaf is so infini- 
tesimally small as to be almost incapable of detection by the severest 
tests. Its application is, therefore, harmless to the consumer- of the 
cured product, even though the tobacco should be taken in the stom- 
ach. 

By the use of Paris green for the destruction of the horn worms, 
the capacity of the tobacco grower is largely increased. The limi- 
tation of the acreage heretofore has been the ability to keep the to- 
bacco clear of worms. 

Many of the moths which are the fecund mothers of the tobacco 
worm may be destroyed by injecting a solution of sweetened cobalt 
into the flowers of the Jimpsoi-^ weed. The solution should contain 
water one pint, honey, sugar-syrup or molasses one-quarter of a 
pint to one ounce of cobalt. This put into a small syringe or squirt 
gun may be easily injected into the throat of the blossoms. The 
efficacy of this poison in destroying the moths is fully shown the 
following morning in the number of dead fiies that may be picked 
up. For fifty years this method of destroying the flies has been 
practiced and is still in favor. 

Hand picking of worms is a very tedious process, but it is still 
relied upon by the great majority of tobacco growers. One hand 
can, with difficulty, worm and sucker a half acre a day when the 
worms ^re at all abundant. Every large worm left will destrory 
the best part of a full-grown leaf in a week. This work requires 
vigilance, regularity, diligence and persistence. Every leaf eaten in 
part by the worm is a loss both in weight and quality. In fact, all 
badly worm-eaten leaves are classed with lugs, the lowest grade 
made in assorting the cured tobacco. 



8 Tobacco, How to Cultivate, Cure and Prepare for Market. 

A drove of turkeys, if kept in a tobacco field, will be a valuable 
ally in destroying the worms. They soon learn to find them, and it 
is almost incredible how many worms will be destroyed in a day by 
a large drove of turkeys, who seem to feed upon them with relish. 

TOBACCO HOUSES. 

It would require a long paper to give a clear idea of the various 
styles of curing houses. Many believe that no improvement has 
been made on the old log barn twenty feet square, well daubed and 
four or five firing tiers in height. Such a barn may be filled in forty- 
eight hours with a half-dozen good hands. The tobacco so housed 
will be more uniform in color and will cure more evenly. The fires 
may be better regulated in such a structure and the d mger from 
house-burn is lessened. The risk of losing the whole crop by fire is 
diminished with a large majority of the tobacco growers vho usually 
grow enough to fill several such small barns. 

But as the logs for building such bars are becoming scarce in 
the tobacco growing districts, frame bams from 30 to 50 feet square 
or oblong are erected with four rows of posts, either let into the sills 
or placed upon a rock foundation. The distance between the lines 
of posts is usually about twelve feet. The girders are let into the 
posts, the first nine feet above the ground and others four feet aparc 
vertically. The tier poles rest upon these. The barns are usually 
enclosed with upright plank, windows being left under the eaves of 
the roof and also in the gables to permit the egress of smoke and to 
serve for the admission of dampness to bring the cured tobacco to 
a condition for handling. A barn with the capacity to cure ten acres 
should not cost more than $150. 

HARVESTING THE CROP. 

The first tobacco cutting in the heavy growing regions of Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee and Virginia is usually done about the loth of 
August, sometimes a little earlier and sometimes later. Tlie work 
of worming and suckering must be actively and energetically kept 
up until that period and even beyond, at intervals, until the entire 
crop has been harvested. 

From six to eight, rarely ten, weeks after the tobacco has been 
topped the leaves assume a yellowish, mottled color or a deep green, 
thick, corrugated appearance. The granulated surface of the upper 
side of the leaf is a sure indication of maturity. At this stage a 
piece of the leaf bent between the fingers will snap with a clear-cut 



Tohocco, H()-a' to Ciiliii'ati\ Cure and /Wpairjbr Market. 9 

■ roak, letivinj^ the piece adherin"- to the main leaf only by the thin 
■hoatc tisstic or integument forming the under surface. 

It would be a conjunction of most fortuitous circumstances to 

bring all the i)lants in a field to maturity at the same time. There 

iiust be uniformity in soil fertility, exposure, cultivation and topping 

f all tiie plants at the same time, or a reduction in the number of 

leaves left on the plants at a second topping for all of them to be 

'1 the exact condition for harvesting at the same time. Usually 

''HDUt one-half or two-thirds of the plants in a field will be ready 

or the knife at first cutting. If there should be any question as to 

'le maturity of the plants it is best to let them remain for a short 

ime longer before beginning the harvest. The last days that the 

>iants remain in the field before maturing are most fruitful in the 

■ lorag'c of gums, resins and the so-called fatty matters that give the 
greatest valuo to the product. There is as much difference in the 
fragrance of ripe tobacco and green as there is between a ripe 
peach with it.^ luscious juices and a green one with its acidity and 
icridity. 

No tobacco should be cut immediately subsequent to a hard rain, 
because niuch of the gummy matter so necessary to its fragrance 
I ad usefulness that has been secreted upon the upper surface of 
the leaves will be dissolved and w^ashed away. Nor should tobacco 
be cut when there is a probability of a rain, for the reason that if 
caught in a shower of rain after it has been cut it is liable to be be- 
spattered with dirt and its value impaired. Nor should it be cut 
•\ hen the dew is on the plant, for when inverted upon the ground 
.Iter the stalk is severed a considerable quantity of dirt will ad- 
here to the wet leaves. The best time for cutting is in the afternoon 
when the fierceness of the noonday sun has been tempered by the 
coolness of evening. A cloudy or foggy day when there is no imme- 
diate prospect for rain is a good time to cut tobacco. If cut while 
the sun is hot many of the leaves will be blistered, or sunburned, a 
condition for which there is no remedy. The green spots made by 
iinburn impair the quality and destroy the beauty of the product 
alter it is cured. The most careful attention, therefore, should be 
given in protecting the green plants from sunburn. 

The implement most commonly used for cutting the plants is a 
butcher knife. The stalk is first split down to a point within three 
or four inches of the lower leaves and then severed immediately be- 



10 Tobacco, Ho'ic to Culiivate, Cure aiid Prepare for Market. 

low these leaves and turned over on the ground. After remaining 
in this condition long enough to wilt sufficiently to be handled with- 
out breaking the leaves, the plants are pned from six to ten in a place, 
the number being regulated by the size of the plants. These ar*" 
afterwards straddled over a stick stuck in the ground at an angle of 
about sixty degrees, the stick sloping from the sun to lessen the ef- 
fect of the direct rays so apt to burn the tobacco. Some planters 
prefer to haul the plants to the curing house before stringing them 
upon the sticks, but this practice has been for the most part aban- 
doned. There is only one thing to commend this method, and that 
is, the tobacco is taken up and more quickly and removed from ex- 
posure to the sun's rays and therefore is less likely to be damaged 
by sunburn. 

After the tobacco plants have been strung on sticks about four 
and a quarter feet long and about one inch and a half in diameter, 
they are hauled to the curing houses and arranged on the tier poles 
with a distance of about eight inches between the sticks. It was once 
almost a universal practice to put the sticks of tobacco on a scaffold 
erected in the field. The advantage in this is that more may be 
hauled in each load. When the distance between the tobacco field 
and the curing house is as much as a mile, this practice is to be com- 
mended. All leaves broken from the stalks should be strung sep- 
arately upon a stick. 

CURING OF HEAVY TOBACCO. 

The curing of tobacco after it has been arranged properly in the 
curing barn is at once a difficult and, to some extent, a dangerous 
operation. If the fires are not placed under the tobacco at the right 
time it is apt to houseburn, which is as bad as sunburn, being a 
half decayed condition of the leaf in which all or nearly all the sub- 
stances that give strength and value to the cured tobacco are de- 
stroyed, leaving only the form of the leaf, stiff, harsh and well- 
nigh worthless. Houseburn is caused by heat evolved by the crowded 
condition of the leaves, which prevents the air from circulating free- 
ly. A moisture is generated by the sap and heat which produces 
a fermentation and causes the partial decay. To prevent this fires 
made of two logs lying in pairs at intervals of five feet on the floor 
of the barn should' be started after the tobacco plants begin to turn 
yellow. For twenty-four hours these fires should keep the tempera- 



Tobacco, Ho7i' to Cultii^air, Cure ami Prepare for Market. 11 

ture of tlie barn to about 90 degrees, and after this the heat should 
be increased to 100 to 120 degrees. 

The heavy tobacco planters, previous to 1870, fired much ^harder 
than they do at present. Keeping up very hot tires without cessa- 
tion for four or five days was then the general method of curing 
the tobacco. Now much gentler fires are kept up for four or five 
days, then they are extinguished until the tobacco leaves become 
pliant, when the fires are again kindled and kept going gently, day 
and night, for about thirty-six hours or until the leaves become dry 
the greater part of their length while the stem and stalk remain green. 
The fires are again withdrawn and re kindled alternately as the to- 
bacco leaves become dry or in a humid condition. It now requires 
from ten to fifteen days to complete the curing of a barn filled with 
green tobacco. The larger the tobacco plants and the more they are 
engorged with sap, the longer the time required for a successful 
cure. 

It is justly claimed by the tobacco growers of- the present time 
'hat a greater uniformity in color and a more beautiful finish are 
produced by allowing the tobacco leaves to absorb humidity fre- 
juently during the process of curing. It is a good practice to dry 
Dut the tobacco whenever damp weather occurs. If long continued 
■ains surcharge the stems -with excessive moisture a rot is en-' 
rendered which at once injures the quality of the tobacco and re- 
duces its weight. A nicely cured black or brown stem, pliajit but firm 
)f texture, is greatly to be desired. 

Sometimes tobacco, and especially that grown on newly cleared 
and, cures a beautiful yellow color, but if allowed to "come and 
j^o" in '"order," will become reddish in color. If there is a demand 
or the yellow leaf, the color may be retained by kindling fires under 
he tobacco every morning until the stems and stalks are cured. It 
liould then be bulked down or crowded closely together on the tier 
)oles so as to preserve the yellow color. 

All tobacco perfectly cured both as to leaves, stem and stalk, 
hould be taken from the tier poles when in proper order and bulked 
•n a platform elevated above the ground six inches or more. This 
,)latform should be about five or six feet wide and of a suflScient 
ength to hold all the tobacco in the barn when tjie bulk is built up 
the height of four or five feet. When finished the bulk should 
e covered with plank or tobacco sticks and weighted down. If the 



12 Tobacco, Horc to Cultivate, Cure and Prepare for Market. 

sides of the bulk should be protected from drying winds by old car- 
pets, blankets, straw or wagon sheets, the tobacco will be in a condi- 
tion for assorting and stripping at any time during the winter months. 
The inquiry is frequently made if tobacco cured by atmospheric 
influences alone is not as sweet and salable as that cured by fires. 
The tobacco used mainly for home consumption, such as the White 
Burley seed leaf and Havana leaf varieties is almost always air- 
cured. The tobacco used for exportation is, for the most part, cured 
by the use of artificial heat. Experience has demonstrated that to- 
bacco cured by fire will pass through the sweat of suninijr much 
better than that air-cured, and will also be less liable to injury from 
a sea voyage. Many European consumers also like the creosotic 
flavor produced by smoke, and this makes a steady demand for the 
open-fire cured tobacco. Consumers in the United States like also 
the flue-cured tobacco of North Carolina and Virginia, but this is 
free from the smoky flavor that characterizes the tobacco cured by 
open fires. The fiue-cured tobacco is sweet to the taste, delightfully 
fragrant and is more in demand as a chewing tobacco than the 
cheaper brands made of air-cured White Burley or the lighter sorts 
cured by open fires, though the latter is preferred by sailors, lumber- 
men, farm laborers, and miners, on account of its great strength. 

ASSORTING AND STRIPPING. 

Tobacco is assorted by separating the various colors and quali- 
ties and afterwards arranging those into different grades. 

In almost every crop there may be found bright ai,'' 'lark tobac- 
co, heavy and light, long and short, the result of different plantings, 
of diversified soils, of freshly cleared lands, or of manured lots. 

At the time of harvesting, much may be done in keeping the 
product of new lands and that of old lands separate, as well as long 
tobacco and short tobacco. This will relieve the -planter of much 
trouble when the time for stripping arrives. 

The most careful and discriminating hands only should be per- 
mitted to sort tobacco. To do the work properly, good sight, good 
judgment and close attention are all needed in the assorter. 

A few bad leaves appearing with the good in a sample drawn by 
an inspector will reduce the price of the hogshead almost to the 
level of the price of the bad leaves. Short leaves appearing in a 
bundle of long tobacco, or bright leaves in a bundle of dark to- 



Tobacco, Ho-w to C II iU', Chit aud Prepare for Market . 13 

bacco, or rich with poor lea^ , all violate the primary laws of clas- 
"^ification and injure the sale. 

Three classes, subdivided into three others, are usually made in 
assorting heavy shipping tobacco : 

I. Lugs, which represent ground leaves and those badly worm- 
eaten, blistered, field-fired, house-burned, and these may be, sub- 
divided into light lugs and heavy or snuff lugs. 

z. Seconds, which represent that portion of the crop which is 
^lightly worm eaten or field-fired, off-color, short, thin or papery. 
These may be sub-divided like the first grade. 

3. Good, or selections which are made up of those leaves best 
matured, best cured, and which have the best color and best body. 
This grade may be sub-divided into long or short, heavy or light. 

In tying up the leaves into bundles, an inferior leaf may be 
used and this is generally taken from the lowest grade and well 
dampened. However good the tie leaf may be, it is reduced to a 
lower grade by being wound around the head of the bundle. 

If the tobacco is to be delivered to a stemmery, any number of ■ 
leaves that may be convenient for handling may be tied into a sin- 
gle bundle. The larger the bundle the better, but if it is to be 
prized into hogsheads from five to eight leaves make a bundle of 
proper size, the larger number of leaves being used for the inferioi' 
grades. 

If the tobacco is in proper order when first taken down from the 
tier poles, it may be bulked as fast as stripped, but if it is too high 
or too dry it will be necessary to put the bundles on sticks and hang 
the tobacco up in the barn again for re-ordering. 

The most approved condition for permanent bulking and prizing 
is one in which the leaf is damp enough to open freely without 
breaking and the stems near the larger ends will crack but not break 
when bent. In this condition it will keep through all seasons, will 
go through the sweat with improvement and will bear the ocean 
voyage without damage. 

As the prizing of tobacco is now rarely done by the tobacco 
grower but by experts who have made a study of it, I do not deem 
X necessary to extend this paper by describing this work. Rarel\ 
does the planter grow a crop large enough to make all the classi- 
fications demanded by the various markets. A cask containing types 
guited to several markets is limited to one buyer, viz., the re-handler. 



li Tobacco, Hoiv to Cultivate, Cure and Prepare for Marki i. 

In a crop, say, of 50,000 pounds there may be several hogsheads of 
these mixed types or grades and but few specially suited to anv of 
the foreign markets. So it has been shown by experience that it is 
much safer for the planter to sell his tobacco loose or to unite ^vith 
several others in having it prized than to prize it himself. 




WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO AND ITS CULTURE. 

By J. B. Killebrew. A. N., Ph. D. 



The natural variation in the species of tobacco has brought about 
comc wonderful economic results. This was especially true of the 
White Burley tobacco, a variety that within the past four decades 
has increased in production more rapidly than that of any other va- 
riety whatever. The fortunate development of this variety, so well 
suited to the requirements of our domestic manufacturers in making 
plug tobacco, has wrought a complete revolution in tobacco culture 
in many parts of the country. 

HISTORY OF WHITE BURLEY. 

The White Burley had its origin in Brown County, Ohio, in 
1864. ^ farmer named George Webb, living near Higginsport, in 
the spring of that year, sowed the seed of the Red Burley, said to 
have come from the farm of Jos. W. Barkley, of Bracken County, 
Ky. A part of the plants on one side of the bed had a creamy, 
sickly appearance. These were thought to be worthless for trans- 
planting, but being hard pressed for plants enough to set out his 
crop, Mr. Webb made use of a few of these white plants rather than 
go to a neighbor for a quantity sufficient to finish his field. For two 
or three weeks the white plants grew but little, but after becoming 
established and well rooted they grew with remarkable rapidity, 
soon reachmg large size and retaining all their creamy richness of 
color. They ripened two weeks earlier than the green plants set out 
at the same time. Wlien cured in the ordinary way, by atmospheric 
influences, there was a whitish tinge on the under side of the leaf, 
while the upper surface was of a beautiful golden yellow. A few- 
plants were cut and cured which measured six feet in length and 
were put on exhibition in the Bodmann warehouse in Cincinnati. 
These plants attracted a great deal of attention and interest among 
all tobacco men who examined them. Buyers gave encouragement 
to their further cultivation. 

The next year, 1865, Mr. Webb planted ten acres and produced 
11,000 pounds of tobacco, which was exceedingly handsome and 
silky, having all the characteristic marks of coloring which the sam- 
ple of the previous year had displayed. When offered on the market 
it brought from 25 to 45 cents per pound, and a premium of $300 
was awarded, in addition to this large price, to the successful grower. 



16 White Burley Tobacco and itslCuUur^. 

The White Burley district lies on both sides of the Ohio Rlvef, 
and occupies about twenty-four counties, in whole or in part, in 
Kentucky, and three counties exclusively in Ohio, viz., Adams, 
Brown and Clermont, and parts of counties in the Spangled or East- 
ern Tobacco district of Ohio lying in the Southeastern corner of the 
State. The boundaries of the district in Kentucky are limited by 
the Ohio River on the North, and by lines on the South and East 
passing from Louisville, Kentucky, to Paris, and from the latter 
place to Portsmouth, Ohio. 

TOPOGRAPHY AND SOILS. 

The surface of this region is greatly diversified. High ridges 
and knobs, rising from 300 to 400 feet above the valley of the Ohio 
River, are alternated by deep ravines and rocky gorges. There is a 
lofty elevation known as Dry Ridge, upon which the Cincinnati 
Southern Railway passes through the center of this district from 
North to South. Innumerable spurs shoot out from this ridge, and 
are often cut by the transverse gorges into conical hills, with some- 
times gentle, but often abrupt slopes. Numerous rills, creeks and 
rivers ramify the entire district, while level stretches of land are to 
be seen in the southern portions of the district around Georgetowii 
and Lexington and in several counties in Central Kentucky. The 
geological formations for the most part belong to the lower Silurian, 
the rocks are limestone, and the tree growth is oak, hickory, w.ilaut, 
beech, poplar, sugar tree and other varieties indicating great original 
fertility in the soil. The unevenness of the surface makes tillage 
difBcult, and great care must be taken to prevent the rapid destruc- 
tion of the upper soil by surface washings. Blue Grass is indigenous 
to the entire district, and covers with its verdant turf the slopes of 
the hills and the rich valleys between. All the rocky beds of the 
lower Silurian are exposed in some parts of the district. Many of 
these beds are thin, flaggy and soft, undergoing a rapid disintegra- 
tion when exposed. The soils derived from the blue limestones 
have gieat strength of constitution, for though apparently exhausted, 
the dissolution of the rocks soon adds the necessary inorganic ele- 
ments, while the turf of the blue grass that carpets the surface 
supplies all the humus required to restore the soil to its pristine fer- 
tility. It is a fact well established that phosphoric acid abounds in 
the limestones of the district, and is by far the most valuable of all 
fertilizing elements in any soil. Dr. Peter, of the Geological Survey. 



U'/ti/i- A'ur/iv 'Jobacco and ils Cult inc. 17 

ascertained by chemical analysis that some of the soils in this dis- 
trict contain as high as .466 per cent, of phosphoric acid, while the 
richest soils of Todd county contain only a third of this quantity. 
He ascribes the fertility of the soil of this region : 

First — To its state of extreme division. 

Second — Its large proportion of phosphates and the alkalies. 

Third — The great amount of organic matter. 

The latter ingredient gives the soil its rich black or brown color, 
makes it light and very retentive of moisture and gases favorable to 
vegetable growth. This organic matter materially aids in the solu- 
tion of the mineral elements of vegetable nutrition, and by its de- 
composition furnishes plants with a large supply of the most assim- 
ilable plant food. 

The soils of this region contain fourteen times as much lime, 
three times as much phosphoric acid, and twice as much potash as 
the sandstone soils of the coal regions. The large content of oxide 
of iron and alumina as shown to exist by the analysis of Dr. Peter, 
contributes to their durable fertility and the rapid powers of recuper- 
ation, by assimilating through leguminous plants ammonia from the 
atmosphere. In addition the alumina prevents the soluble salts from 
filtering away from the roots of pinnts and also supplies soluble 
salts of potash by disintegration. The gradual liberation of potash 
from the alumina of the soil accounts tor the fact, which is well 
known among the tobacco growers of the district, that a field planted 
in tobacco for two or more years in succession apparently becomes 
exhausted for the production of another crop, but when seeded to 
grass or clover, and allowed to remain in pasture for a few years, 
it regains its fertility, and shows no permanent injury in conse- 
quence of the previous crops of tobacco taken from it. 

The subsoil of this region is also very rich in mineral fertilizers. 
Phosphate of lime is of common occurrence in appreciable quantities 
— not. it is true, existing in the form of crystallized or massive apa- 
tite or coprolite, but disseminated through the whole body of the 
limestone rocks to such an extent that many beds, if crushed to 
powder, would make an excellent fertilizer. This makes it impos- 
sible ever to destroy the fertility of the region permanently, even 
by the most injudicious cultivation. The subsoil and the rocky strata 
beneath constitute an accumulated capital held in trust for future 
generations ; while the surface soils may be compared to the avaiN 



18 White Burley Tobacco and its Culture. 

able interest subject to the uses of its present owners. The latter 
may be improved or dissipated by bad tillage, by excessive crop- 
pings, by washings ; but no limit of time may be assigned beyond 
which the blue limestone lands shall cease to have a permanent value. 
Nature is forever at work in deepening the soil and restoring the 
ravages af cultivation. The midsummer sun« warm and expand 
the rocks ; the rains fall and penetrate them ; frosts turn the mois- 
ture into an infinite number of little wedges, which enter, and tear, 
and split, and crumble the surface into dust, and thus from year to 
year, from generation to generation, from century to century, the 
work goes on, constantly meeting the interest demanded by each 
successive age. 

The following is an anaylsis of the typical soil of this region as 
made by Dr. Peter : 

Organic and volatile matter 7771 

Alumina, oxide of iron and manganese 12.961 

Carbonate of lime 2.464 

Magnesia 0.173 

Phosphoric acid 0.319 

Sulphuric acid 0.170 

Potash 0.393 

Soda 0.130 

Sand and insoluble silicates 75.266 

Total 99.647 

Moisture driven off at 300 4-700 

Some other analyses may show larger quantities of phosphoric 
acid and potash, but the above is a fair average. Dr. Peter, in the 
course of his investigation, took the pains to make an analysis of 
the richest prairie soils of Illinois with those of the region under 
consideration. The large amount of available nourishing plant food 
to be found in the former gives great luxuriance to the growth of 
the first crops. It has probably greater immediate fertility, but none 
of the durability of the blue grass soils. It has a larger interest 
but smaller capital, and when the accumulated available soil is once 
consumed or exhausted by thriftless husbandry, there is no inher- 
ent power left to make restitution for the destruction. 

There is a class of soils which occurs in the counties of Owen. 
Gallatin, Grant and Boone in Kentucky, derived from a silicious 
mudstone far inferior in productive capacity to the blue limestone 
soils. This mudstone is buff in color and is probably 100 feet in 
thickness and from 200 to 300 feet above the Ohio River. The soil 



While Burlcy Tobacco and its Culture. 19 

from it is poor in lime and potash, but rich in sulphuric acid. Owing 
to the central portion occupied by the mudstone in the vertical range, 
the strongest soils are found capping the greatest elevations or in the 
valleys. The character of the mudstone soil is, however, greatly 
niiprov d by the presence of limestone gravel which rolls down from 
heights above and commingles with the soil. Oak, poplar and sugar 
tree are the prevalent growths on the "best quality of this soil. Beech 
forests with a sobby ^oil characterize more generally the mudstone, 
and such land" are of inferior value, both for the growing of tillage 
crops and for the grasses. In the eastern portions of Lewis and 
Fleming Counties the stiff soils of the Devonian shales appear, be- 
low them the brownish red soils derived from the magnesian lime- 
'^•tones of the upper silurian formations. 

The portion of the White Burley district lying in Ohio consists of 
a river basin fringed by cliffs of modified drift, rising to the height 
of 500 feet above the Ohio River, and in topographical outline is 
the counterpart of the district in Kentucky. The bluffs run off into 
a plateau, sometimes deeply washed by the numerous tributaries of 
the Ohio and Little Miami rivers, but generally the erosion has not 
been deep, and frequent instances occur where small streams mean- 
dei for many miles through broad valleys. Broad areas of level land 
cccur, sometimes so flat that in times of excessive rains they over- 
flow, and form temporary inland lakes. Limestones of silurian age, 
are often found cropping out in this district. Some of these beds are 
full of fossils, and analysis shows that potash, soda and phosphoric 
acid, as in the Kentucky limestones, enter largely into their compo- 
sition. 

The drift of glacial deposits are extensive and contribute mainly 
to u!c formation of the soils. This origin gives them a somewhat 
dift'erent character from those in Kentucky derived immediately 
from the underlying limestones. The drift is composed largely of 
clay, and its thickness upon the rocky strata varies from 10 to 50 
feet. Its usual thickness, however, is about 20 feet, and it is com- 
poses for the most part of the following materials, beginning at the 
surface and descending-, 

1. Surface clays, creamy in color, sometimes darkened by an 
accumulation of humus, especially in swamps or basins. 

2. Yellowish clays, abounding in limestone gravel, forming the 
surface where the first had been carried away by denudation. 



20 White Biirhy Tobacco audits Ciiliun'. 

3. Forest bed, a dark carbonaceous clay abounding in the re- 
mains of vegetable matter — often peaty, generally resting upon a 
bed of bog-iron ore one or two feet in thickness. 

4. Hard pan, a blue, compact, putty-like mass, with occasional 
layers of inter-collated sand. This last usually rests upon the bed- 
rock. 

There are four classes of soil recognized in this district north of 
the Ohio River, viz. : 

1. Native soils, formed from the disintegration of the bed- 
rocks of the country, 

2. Drift soils of the uplands. 

3. Black soils of swampy areas. 

4. Alluvial of the river bottoms. 

The native soils are not widespread, but are confined, for the 
most part, to the slopes bordering the streams. Some of them abound 
in vegetable humus, are dark in color, very friable and exceedingly 
fertile. This fertility comes from the carbonate of lime, potash, 
soda and phosphoric acid, which abound in the rocks, and their fer- 
tility is still further increased by the arenaceous character of the 
limestones from which they are derived, which makes them open and 
light. On account of the general unevenness of the surface, where 
they exist, they wash easily but are the soils preferred for tobacco. 
The principal trees are sugar, maple and walnut. 

The drift soils are capable of subdivision into yellow clays and 
white clays. 

The yellow clay soil is derived from the weathering of the drift, 
which in this region is largely composed of gravel. There are oc- 
casional seams of sand and gravel in the soil. The surface, how- 
ever, is made up of one or two feet of whitish clay, fine-grained, 
comparatively free from gravel, which is due in part to the decay 
of vegetable matter, and in part to the work of earth worms and 
animals which bring up fine particles from beneath. The white clay 
is identical in character with the last described, except as to origin, 
and changes to a yellowish hue under the surface. Analysis shows 
a considerable amount of potash and soda in its composition, as well 
as phosph^^te and carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia. It 
also contains over 6 per cent, of the sesquioxide of iron. 

The black soils of the swamps are, for the most part, composed 
of humus in a greater or less degree of decay, and when sweetened 
by aeration are very durable and highly productive. 



IVkite Jiur/ry J'ohacco and its CuUiur. 21 

The alluvial soils of streams partake of the nature of the region 
whence their material has been derived, sometimes being very sandy, 
sometimes gravelly and at other places highly, argillaceous and stiff, 
but generally very productive. 

The soils on the smaller streams are not generally so sandy as 
those on the Ohio River, 

TWO CLASSES WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO. 

In the White Burley districts of Kentucky two different classes 
of tobacco are produced from the same variety planted. In the 
counties of Owen, Franklin, Henry, Oldham, Scott and Trimble 
cutting tobacco, or what may be used for cutting purposes, was until 
within a recent period grown almost exclusively, while in the re- 
maining counties of the district heavier styles used for fillers mainly 
are now and have heretofore been grown altogether. Latterly, how- 
ever, both cutters and fillers are grown in the section of which Owen 
County may be considered the center. All observant cultivators 
agree that the character of the soil determines the quality of the 
product, other conditions being equal. 

Bottom lands and black soils grow coarse, bony tobacco, long but 
not fine. 

Eastern or Southeastern slopes have open soils and will pro- 
duce a quick growth, which is essential in making a porous product. 
These are preferred for making the finest classes of tobacco, es- 
pecially when they have stood in grass for many years and have 
long been cleared. Newly cleared land makes a very bright, thin 
cutting leaf, which at one time commanded the highest prices. 

Before the introduction of the White Burley variety, a variety 
called Twist Bud w^as grown on new land for making the highest 
>t}les of cutting leaf. Ridge-land has a fine grained soil, and does 
not produce such rapid growth, which is necessary to give absorp- 
tive capacity to the product. The product on such land is therefore 
not so valuable. West lands, or lands facing west and mudstone 
lands are cold and clammy, and produce a slow growth, making a 
hard, compact quality of tobacco, of dark color and poor powers 
of absorption. 

On the Northern slopes or North lands as they are called, the 
product is very rich, heavy and gummy, deficient in color, and 
though more pounds to the acre are produced, the quality is not 
such as commands the highest prices. 



22 White Burley Tobacco and its Culture. 

In Kenton and other counties, where there are sandy soils of a 
very fertile character, the highest type of Burley Tobacco is grown ; 
the heaviest and darkest product on deep, reddish loam soil, and the 
lightest and often the highest priced article, used both for wrappers 
and fine cut, is grown upon white oak lands. 

TOBACCO IS AFFECTED BY SURFACE AND SOILS. 

The quality of the product, as affected by the surface exposure 
and the character of the soils, both in Ohio and Kentucky, may be 
summarized as follows : 

On new lands the product is thin, light and bright, and suitable 
for cutters. 

On second year land the product is heavier, with more body, 
often cherry red in color, and suitable both for cutters and fillers, 
but in an inferior degree. 

On old sod land the product is of better body, less color, more 
useful for plug fillers with more pounds per acre. 

On alluvial or black soils the product is dark in color, rough, 
bony, lacking in softness and low in absorptive capacity. 

The order of preference as to exposure is: i. Eastern or South- 
eastern ; 2. Southern ; 3. Northern ; 4. Western. Beech lands are 
preferred for the White Burley variety, but the oak lands were 
formerly preferred for producing the cinnamon colored fine cut- 
ters. 

There is one point of difference between the soils of this dis- 
trict as they occur in Ohio and Kentucky. In the former state they 
are mainly derived from the drift and are usually tender. 

RAPID DESTRUCTION OF SOILS. 

It is a somxe of disquiet to the well wisher of his country to 
observe the rapid destruction of the soil in this district — within a 
quarter of a century the diminution of the yield of the staple crop 
has been from 25 to 50 per cent. Very few farmers pay any atten- 
tion to the fertilization or preservation of their soils. The hills are 
scarred and ribbed with deepening gullies, down which the rich 
plant food is carried with every rain. The district in Ohio has no 
such natural reservation of soil power as the land in Kentucky, and 
when once exhausted the work to reclaim the land will cost as much 
or more than it will be worth when redeemed. From the testimony 
at hand, not one farmer in five in Brown, Adams or Clermont 



U'/iitr liitrlcy Tobacco and i/s Culture. 23 

Counties considers it necessary to apply fertilizers to restore or pre- 
serve the fertility of the soil. 

I have thus given an outline of the character of the soil in what 
is known as the White Burley district, but the reader will make a 
grave mistake if he should be led to believe that this variety of 
tobacco is grown nowhere else. It is now planted in Virginia, Ten- 
nessee, West Virginia, Missouri, Maryland, Indiana, Ohio and Ar- 
kansas, and in nearly every district in Kentucky. The truth is, there 
has been a WHiite Burley mania among the farmers of the Southern 
tobacco-growing States, but it has nearly run its course. When- 
ever the prices for this variety and the heavier styles shall be equi- 
librated the farmer of each district will return to the production of 
such types as may be best and more profitably produced in his dis- 
trict. In flavor, in substance, in strength of the essential ingredients 
of tobacco, the White Burley variety is inferior. Its greatest recom- 
mendations are its highly absorptive quality, its mildness and its less 
baleful effects upon people of sedentary habits. Its absorptive ca- 
pacity being over twice as great as the rich, gummy type, makes it 
exceedingly profitable to the manufacturer, while its mildness per- 
mits it to be used by the weak and the nervous with comparative 
mipunity. 

This variety has few qualities that old tobacco growers would 
call good. It is very weak. It is thin. It has hardly gum enough 
in its composition to make it supple. It is probably the mildest to- 
bacco grown, and is admirably suited on that account for consump- 
tion by a large class of persons of weak nerves, to whom the use 
of stronger tobacco is a positive injury. 

Since 1872, at which time it began to be used for making plug, 
(before used for making cutting tobacco) it has well-nigh super- 
seded all other varieties in the manufacture of plug. The "sweet" 
chew of Missouri, the sun-cured product of Virginia, and, indeed, 
all the favorite types theretofore used by the plug manufacturer, 
have been dethroned by this tobacco king of the Ohio Valley, and 
still the conquest extends. France calls for it ; England wants a 
part of its supply from this variety and Italy is buying it. 

A prominent New York tobacco dealer thinks its popularity is 
due to the highly-wrought nervous condition of the American peo- 
ple. Persons performing outdoor work, sailors, fishermen and farm- 
ers, and all with strong physical constitutions, reject it and prefer 



24 White Burlcy Tobacco and its Culture. 

types richer in the essential properties of tobacco, but persons of 
sedentary habits, students, clerks, merchants, professional men — 
all prefer the milder form as represented in the White Burley vi: 
riety. 

Three-fourths of this product is taken for the home trade. It i 
used for making fine cut, for plug fillers, for smokers, and it ha 
been used to some extent in the place of mahogany wrappers fcr 
plug. 

A few years ago when there was a very limited demand for fil". 
ers, the principal object of the grower of the White Burley variet 
was to increase the proportion of cutting leaf and to dimmish th; 
quantity of fillers. The tobacco was planted thickly and topped high . 
so that thin and gumless leaves, suitable for cutting, might predom 
inate. A wider space is given to the plants when it is sought to pro 
duce more gum, body and sweetness, and each is used in the manu- 
facture of domestic plug. 

PREPARATION OF LAND FOR WHITE BURLEY. 

In the White Burley districts of Ohio, composed mainly of th 
counties of Adams, Brown and Clermont, on the Ohio River, th' 
soil intended for tobacco is prepared by turning it either in the fal' 
or early spring, going to the depth of six or eight inches. Just be- 
fore the plants are large enough to transplant, the soil is agaii 
broken, usually with a disc harrow so as not to reverse the soil, and 
by repeated harrowings afterwards it is reduced to a fine state o^ 
pulverization. The distance between the rows is variable. Som 
farmers prefer a width of two and one half feet, others three, anc 
some three and a half and even four feet. The latter distance i- 
preferred when tobacco of good body is desired, but when the objeci 
is to make a cutting leaf the shorter distances are adopted. Whei 
the field has been marked off in one way the plants are set usually 
with a machine twenty-two inches apart on the mark. 

In the White Burley districts of Kentucky old sod land is gen- 
erally preferred. This is also broken in the fall or early spring and 
allowed to remain in this condition until about the first of May, by 
which time the sod will be well rotted. The soil is then disced and 
well pulverized, the land is then marked ofif for planting, the marks 
being three feet to three feet eight inches apart. The plants, with- 
out hills, are set in the marks at the ijifttSSe of about twenty inches 



5*^"^ 



IV/iiti' BtirUy Tobacco and i/s Culture. 25 

or two feet apart, so as to have about 7,000 plants to the acre. Some 
prefer a shorter distance for the plants in the rows, under the im- 
pression that the shorter the distance, to within eighteen inches, the 
smaller will be the stem and fibres. Others aim to produce tobacco 
of a little heavier body that may be used either as a heavy cutter or 
as a bright filler. 

It is claimed by some excellent planters that a silkier quality of 
tobacco may be produced by cultivating the sod land the first year in 
corn, following the corn with tobacco, but the experience of a major- 
ity goes to demonstrate that tobacco following blue grass does best. 
\\'hcn planted after timothy sod it is greatly troubled with insects, 
and when planted after corn it is lacking in suppleness. 

CULTIVATION OF WHITE BURLEY. 

About six days after the plants have been set, and when they are 
fully established, one furrow is run between the rows and some dirt 
pulled up to the plants. It is claimed by some of the very best 
growers in Owen County, where probably the highest grade of 
product is made, that no advantage whatever is derived from mak- 
ing hills to receive the plant ; that the mark or furrow upon the 
lower side of which the tobacco is set, serves to protect the plants 
against excessive rains ; that it makes it easier to plow without dan- 
ger of covering the plants with dirt, and thst it insures a bed of 
freshly worked earth about the plants after they begin to grow. 

Three or four plowings with two or more furrows to the row. 
are given (one plowing every week) with a double shovel plow. 
Especially is it thought important to plow the crop after every rain. 
When the tobacco comes in top the plowing ceases. Level culture 
alone is practiced. 

The most vigorous plants are topped without priming to sixteen 
and eighteen leaves. The average of the first topping is fourteen 
leaves. The suckers are pulled off at least once and the worms arc 
rarely sought for, though it is thought the worms prefer the White 
Burley variety to any other. It is succulent and tender, and in my 
own experience I have found them much more troublesome with 
this variety. Something may be due to its pale green color, so 
much like the color of the worms, making it more difficult to find 
them. 



26 IVhitc Btirley Tobacco ami its Culture. 

HARVESTING AND CURING. 

In about three or four weeks, if the weather should be seasonable 
after the plants are topped, they are thought to be ripe enough to 
cut. In this the White Burley growers have decided advantage over 
the growers of the heavy shipping tobacco. The latter have to wait 
from six to seven weeks for the crop to ripen. In the meanwhile 
their best efforts are required to keep the worms and suckers from 
injuring the product. 

Another advantage grows out of the short length of time re- 
quired for ripening — more acres may be cultivated and cared for by 
one person. The limit to the number of acres to be cultivated is the 
ability to keep down the worms and suckers ; and as this work is 
ended within three or four weeks in the Burley districts, and ex- 
tends to seven or eight weeks in the heavy shipping districts, it will 
be seen that by successive plantings one person may cultivate and 
manage during the season considerably more acreage in the former 
districts than in the latter. From four to five acres are considered 
a reasonable crop in the Burley region for one hand, while three m 
the Clarksville heavy tobacco region are thought to be the full meas- 
ure of one man's capacity to cultivate and care for. 

The period between topping and harvesting, however, is by no 
means a fixed quantity. It varies upon different soils : it is influenced 
by high or low topping, by the prevalence of wet or dry weather, and 
by the different exposures. The earliest maturity takes place on 
warm, southern exposures, and on a quick black or brown limestone 
soil. Northern exposures, heavy, clayey soils, wet weather, as well 
as high topping, all delay the time of ripening, but the average 
length of time between topping and cutting may be put at between 
three and four weeks. 

When fully ripe the harvest begins. The plants are cut with an 
implement made for the purpose, though a common butcher's knife 
is used by many for cutting, and owing to its adaptability to other 
uses, is probably more extensively used than any other implement 
for this work, 

A common hand-saw, with the blade cut squarely off to within 
eight or ten inches of the handle, and sharpened on the end is pre- 
ferred by many. Tlie stalk is split as in the heavy tobacco districts 
already described, and about five plants put on a stick. 

A method of cutting and hanging prevails, to some extent, in 



U'hite tiurlcy Tobacco' ami H:s Ciiltiiic. 27 

Bracken County which is both neat and unusual. Each cutter takes 
three rows, and as each plant is severed it is straddled over a stick 
set up in the ground in the center of the space occupied by six plants, 
that number being allotted to each stick. In this way the plants are 
cut and hung without being laid upon the ground. This both saves 
time and secures neatness in handling. These sticks, a little over 
four feet long, with their loads of tobacco, are either taken directly 
to the barn and hung twelve inches apart on the tier poles, or arc- 
placed upon scaffolds erected in the fields or near the barns. Nearlv 
all the planters scaffold their tobacco and it remains upon the scaf- 
fold from five to eight days. This greatly facilitates the curing aft- 
erwards ai\d economizes barn room; for space of eight inches be- 
tween the sticks will be ample after the tobacco has been exposed to 
atmospheric influences on. the scaffold fdr several days. It is thought 
also that exposure to the sun for a few days makes it much sweeter 
and diminishes the danger from houseburn. The tobacco is car- 
ried to the barns on a frame having one or two tiers. Some plant- 
ers use sleds. 

No fire is employed in curing the crop. In barns provided with 
ample facilities for ventilation, about eight or ten weeks are re- 
quired to perfect the curing. The openings to the barns are not 
closed either day or night, unless there is an excess of wet weather, 
when all apertures are closed. Too much dry weather during the 
process of curing injures the tobacco by decreasing the elasticity 
and toughness of the leaf and preventing a uniformity of color, 
leaving the leaves mottled. An old, experienced grower says : *Tf 
the weather is very dry it will be changeable in color; if too wot 
the color will be too dark, but, after cutting, if the weather is fine, 
with occasional showers, the tobacco will cure a beautiful bright 
color." There must be dampness enough in the atmosphere to pro- 
duce a transfusion of the juices through the leaf, and this insures 
a uniformity of color. 

ASSORTING THE CROP. 

The tobacco being fully cured it is taken down when in proper 
condition and assorted into four or five grades, beginning at the 
bottom of the stalk and going upwards. 

The grades are as follows : 

First — The sand leaves, trash, or flyings. This grade is made 



28 White Buiiey Tobacco a lid its Cultmc. 

up of soiled and earth-parched ground leaves, varying in number 
from one to three leaves. 

Second — Good trash or lugs, taken from the stalk next above 
the ground leaves, varying in number from two to three leaves. 

Third — Bright and prime leaves, taken from the central part of' 
the stalk in number from four to six. 

Four — Tips, or top leaves, generally a little immature, and red- 
dish or greenish in color, in number from one to three. Two classes 
of ''reds" are sometimes made known as first and second "reds." 

Some planters only make three classes or grades, viz : trash, lugs 
and good, the first being the ground leaves, the second the imperfect 
leaves, and the third the bright, middle and top leaves. If the to- 
bacco has been topped low there is generally great uniformity in 
color and length of all the -leaves near the top; but if topped high 
the upper leaves or tips are small and of bad color. 

These various grades are tied into bundles of ten or twelve 
leaves each, re-hung upon sticks, and either crowded upon the tier 
poles or put upon a platform in coops, each grade being kept sepa- 
rate. When suitable weather for ordering comes, if the tobacco hai 
been put upon tier-poles, the sticks are given a greater distance, so 
that the tobacco may become sufficiently pliant to handle without 
breaking, at which time it is taken down, bulked and weighted, each 
grade being kept separate ; or if it has been cooped it is hung thinly 
upon the tier-poles, and when in proper condition it is taken down 
and treated in the same manner. Probably the safest way after 
stripping is to coop it down, because it is then less liable to injury 
from the vicissitudes of the weather. 

A very large proportion of the tobacco grown in the district is 
sold loose to local dealers who receive it in houses in which con- 
veniences are provided for packing and prizing. From 700 to i,ioo 
pounds of the highest grades are put in a hogshead, and from 1,200 
to 1,800 pounds of trash and lugs. These casks are by no means 
of uniform size. Some are very large, being five feet high and 
forty-eight inches in diameter, and they vary in size from this down 
to fifty-two inches in height and forty inches in diameter. Local 
dealers buy at all times from the period when the crops can first be 
examined after curing until the following May or June. 

It is estimated that the cost of prizing, shipping and selling the 
crop, including the cost of hogsheads, will amount to $2 per hun- 



\V/iitf lUirlty Tobacco and Us Culture. 29 

ilred poiuuls. This also includes shrinkage in the weight of the 
tobacco from the time it goes out of the planter's hands until it 
reaches the market, where it is inspected and sold. This shrinkage 
is estimated to vary from 3 to 8 per cent., and if the tobacco is per- 
mitted to go through sweat before being sold 5 per cent, more 
should be added. 

A crop that has grown upon suitable soil, properly cultivated, 
kept free from worms, neatly and carefully handled, well assorted 
into grades, tied in neat hands, artistically packed and prized in 
hogsheads of the weight required for each grade, will bring in the 
market from 35 to 50 per cent, more than one that has been handled 
in a slovenly manner. 

There is in the White Burley crop a very wide range in prices, 
usually varying from 4 to 30 cents per pound, though of course the 
present depression of values has greatly reduced the ordinary stand- 
ard. The grades are sometimes classed as smokers, cutters, fillers 
and nondescript, each of these having subdivisions. 

It will be seen that the cultivation of tobacco in the White Bur- 
ley districts has been much more profitable than in the best shipping 
iiistricts of the state, and this is due to three facts: 

First — A hrger amount of land is cultivated for each hand, the 
proportion being as four to three. 

Second — The yield per acre is greater, being in the proportion 
of eight to five. 

Third — The price of the White Burley has been much higher, 
being nearly in the proportion, for the first few years, of two to 
one. The value per acre in the White Burley districts is about 
$90.00, the value of the product per hand employed $450.00. At the 
same time the value per acre in the heavy shipping districts is $60.00 
per acre, the value of the product per hand $180.00. Evidently in 
the heavy shipping districts of the state the margm of profit in the 
cultivation of tobacco has been reduced to a minimum. 

It may be well here to add that there are many places in Vir- 
ginia, Maryland, Eastern Ohio, West Virginia and Missouri, where 
tobacco product is admirably suited for the domestic manufacturer. 
Some of this is air cured and cured by fire. The methods of curing 
do not differ, however, from the methods in use in the heavy ship- 
ping or yellow tobacco districts. An exception may be made in the 
case of Eastern Ohio and West Virginia in what is known as the 



30 UViifc Burlcy Tobacco and its CuUierc. 

Spangled district, composed of the counties of Belmont, Monroe, 
Noble, Washington, and portions of Harrison, Athens, Gallia, 
Guernsey, Morgan, and two or three counties in West Virginia on 
the opposite side of the Ohio River. 

PULLING OFF LEAVES IN HARVESTING.; 

The manner of harvesting in this region demands attention, as 
it is practiced in but few other places in the United States. The 
variety most generally planted at present is the White Burley and 
the harvest begins by pulling from the plant four or five of the 
lower leaves after they are fully ripe. This is done in the morn- 
ing after the dew is off and the leaves are strung in the field and 
put upon scaffolds or taken imemdiately to the curing house and 
strung. The work of stringing is done by girls or women. A 
needle with a strong thread somewhat longer than the lath or stick 
upon which the tobacco is to be strung is employed, or a string is 
used to loop the leaves. Two leaves are pierced in the midrib or 
looped about an inch from the end of the midrib. These two are 
hung on one side of the stick. Two more are then strung in the same 
manner and hung on the opposite side of the stick, and this is ccm- 
tinued, two being plac ed alternately on each side of the stick until 
it is full. Care must be taken to put the leaves face to face or back 
to back. If strung back to face in the process of curing they will 
involve or enfold one another so as to produce damage. When the 
stick is full the thread is fastened to the other end. 

From seventy to one hundred leaves are put upon each stick, the 
number being regulated by their size. The usual weight of a stick 
of tobacco thus harvested is one and a half pounds. These sticks 
are placed upon the tier-poles of the curing house ten or twelve 
inches apart, but if the tobacco is permitted to remain on a scaffold 
for four or five days this distance may be decreased to six or eight 
inches. 

In about a week after the first gathering four or five more leaves 
are plucked from each plant and strung in the same manner. Usually 
about four gatherings are made before all the leaves are harvested, 
the object being inferior Lugs and Trash, the leaves being more or 
less soiled with dirt and punctured with holes and sometimes half 
destroyed or dried up by the heat of the ground. The last plucking, 
which embraces the top leaves, is the next least valuable, curing up a 
dingy green, like the leaves harvested late in the season. The 



H7ii/c llurhy 'Tobacco ami Us. Cult mr. 31 

best selections come from the second and third gatherings. The 
occurrence of wet weather during the period of gathering indicates 
a second growth, fiUing the leaves with fresh sap and militates grea^- 
ly against the production of fancy colors. 

The growers in this district claim many advantages from gath- 
ering the leaves instead of cutting the stalk. No leaves are plucked 
until they are fully ripe ; this insures greater weight. The dififerent 
qualities or grades are kept separate, and less time is spent in assort- 
ing and preparing for market. The crop is cured in a much shorter 
time, less fuel being required. There is great economy in the sav- 
ing of barn room, the same height 'required for four tiers when the 
stalk is housed being ample for six. The trouble of stripping after 
the product is cured is saved. Cheaper labor can be employed, and 
girls, who would be of but little service in the housing of the crop 
in the ordinary way, are by this method of more service than men, 
because they have more dexterity with the needle. 

One-third of the crop is air-cured, and goes into American 
consumption. The remainder is cured with open fires, and finds a 
market in Europe. No fires at any time are used for curing in the 
White Burley districts proper. 

It is a singular fact that but little manure or fertilizers are used 
in the White Burley districts. The soils are naturally very fertile 
and some growers maintain that stable manure is a' disadvantage as 
it induces field fire and a too rapid ripening. Some sow about 
four bushels of salt over the land after it is prepared for setting out 
the plants under the belief that it will preserve humidity and give 
some protection against cut worms and grasshoppers. There is no 
doubt, however, that the application broadcast of 400 pounds of am- 
moniated superphosphate of lime with 8 per cent of potash would 
greatly increase the yield and add to the value of the product. It 
should be tried especially upon the hilly soils. 

Seed beds are prepared by burning the land thoroughly. Some- 
times the land selected for plants is old fence rows or virgin soil. 
In either case, however, the land is well burned and well prepared 
before sowing seed. It requires about a heaping tablcspoonful for 
icx) square yards. 



SEED LEAF TOBACCO AND ITS CULTURE. 

By J. B. Killebrew, A. N.. Ph. D. 



Seed Leaf Tobacco is grown almost exclusively for making 
wrappers for cigars. It is not used for chewing purposes nor for 
making smoking tobacco. The growing of this type is of compara- 
tively recent origin. Previous to 1833 very little, if any, tobacco was 
grown in Connecticut Valley and that which was grown was narrow 
in leaf, coarse in texture and undesirable for the manufacturer. 

A broad leaf variety was introduced from Maryland about thai 
time, which, under the influence of climate, high culture and a suit 
able soil, has developed into the now famous Connecticut seed leaf. 
From the Connecticut Valley its culture extended into the other 
New England States, and also into Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, 
Wisconsin and Illinois. 

The entire seed leaf product in 1840 did not exceed i,ooo,ooc> 
pounds, while the product in 1879 was a little over 90,000,000 
pounds. In 1889 the amount grown was 69,500,000 pounds, and in 
1895 was reduced to 56,100,000 pounds. About 175,000,000 pounds 
of cigar tobacco are produced annually in the United States. This 
includes seed leaf, Narona seed and Sumatra leaf. 

The varieties at present grown in the Connecticut and Housatonic 
Valleys are the Connecticut seed leaf, Connecticut broad leaf, Ha- 
vana, Havana seed, Belknap, Barber and John Williams. The value 01 
the seed leaf consists in the fact that it is thin, elastic and silky, and is 
almost tasteless, so that when used as a wrapper for Havana Fillers 
it does not impair the flavor. 

TOBACCO IN CONNECTICUT VALLEY. 

In the Connecticut Valley the soils cultivated in tobacco have 
been in careful and skillful tillage from one hundred to two hundred 
years or more. The general rotation practiced is, grass several 
years, after which tobacco is planted for a number of years, two or 
three usually, but frequently four or five, and then the land is again 
seeded to grass. It is difficult to have any regular rotation, be- 
cause the local variations in soil characteristics make some of r: 
peculiarly adapted to the growth of tobacco, while other soils are 
found to be better fitted for hay, corn, buckwheat, or are more profit- 
able in permanent pasturage. 

The soil intended for tobacco is rarely broken in the fall in 
Connecticut, unless it is a heavy, clayey loam, which needs the 



Sft'd Leaf Tobacco and its'J'td/uir. 33 

ameliorating effects of freezes to make it crumble well. On sandy 
land the work of preparation begins in the spring. The land first 
receives a heavy application of barn yard manure, and is plowed, 
with a good turning plow, to the depth of six or eight inches. In 
Alay it is cross-plowed, or cross-disced, and smoothed. With a 
"Ridger" beds are thrown up for seed leaf varieties, three and a 
lialf feet apart, and for Havana seed three feet. Following behind 
the ridger, and attached to it generally is a wheel of such a size as to 
mark on the ridge with small pegs set in the circumference, the 
i>laces for the plants, which, for the larger varieties are twenty-six 
inches apart, and for Havana seed eighteen to twenty inches. When 
very thin tobacco is desired, the distance between the plants is de- 
creased. Hills are very rarely made. 

In the raising of a tobacco crop in Connecticut and Housatonic 
Valleys, manures enter as much into the cultivation and the cost of 
production as the labor employed. When stable manure alone is 
applied from five to fifteen cords are used to each acre Probably 
the district around East Hartford uses a greater variety of fertilizers 
than any other in the United States. The following table will show 
the various kinds used, the prices of the same, and the amount ap- 
plied per acre : 



Kinds. 
Stable manure. 
Castor pomace, 
Peruvian guano, 



Cost. 

$6 to $8 per cord. 

$22 per ton. 

$50 to $55 per ton. 



Superphosphates, $30 to $40 per ton. 



Bone meal. 
Fish guano, 

Tobacco stems, 

Lime, 

i.eached ashes, 
Xewton marl. 



$30 to $40 per ton. 
$18 to $20 half dry. 

$10 to $14 per ton. 

$1.20 to $2 per barrel. 

26 cents per bushel. 



Stockbridge fertilizers, 
Sheep manure, 3 



Amount Applied per Acre. 

5 to 15 cords. 

2 tons. 

300 pounds with 5 cords stable 
manure. 

300 to 500 pounds with stable 
manure. 

Always used with other fertilizers. 

Not much used for Tobacco ; is 
thought to injure the product. 

i/^ to 4 tons; thought to injure 
the burning qualities. 

2 barrels ; improves the burning 
qualities. 

Very popular; quality variable. 

2 tons; makes Tobacco of su- 
perior quality. 

500 pounds. 

All that can be obtained. 



to $10 per cord 

When it is desired to supplement the application of the stable 
manure with other fertilizers, the land is furrowed out at the dis- 
tance intended for the ridges, and the fertilizers drilled in the fur- 
ows. On these, other furrows are thrown, so as to make a bed 
vhich after being smoothed, is marked for hills by a wheel. Some- 



• >4 Seed Leaf Tobacco and ils Culture. 

times the commercial fertilizers are sown broadcast over the land, 
and harrowed in before it is marked ofif. No attempt is ever made ro 
grow a crop of tobacco without fertilization. Even when the land is 
rented, the tenant does not hesitate to expend money liberally for 
fertilizers, sometimes paying out two or three times as much for 
manures as for rent. 

Dr. Riggs, in a Connecticut Agricultural report, gives an ex- 
ceedingly interesting account of the manner in which he prepared his 
soils for the growth of tobacco. He says immediately after one 
crop is taken from the soil the land is ploughed lightly and one 
and one-quarter bushels of rye sown to the acre. This gets a good 
start before winter, and in the spring when the time arrives for 
ploughing for tobacco, the rye is four or five inches high. Two 
or three weeks before ploughing, a leveling plank is drawn over the 
rye; the soil is fertilized with 300 pounds of guano to the acre, 
which is turned under with the rye to the depth of twelve inches. 
In this condition the land lies until it is nearly ready to prepare it 
for the plants, when about one-third the quantity of barn-yard manure 
is applied that would have been applied but for the rye and 
guano. This manure, with about 400 pounds to the acre of additional 
guano, IS spread over the land and mcorporated in the soil by the 
use of a harrow. The field is then smoothed and permitted to 
remain untouched for several days until the guano and manure 
have become absorbed into the soil. The field is then mari<ed off and 
two furrows thrown on each mark, forming ridges three and one-half 
feet apart, and hills are made on the ridges twenty-two to twenty- 
four inches apart. Dr. Riggs says under this preparation his crop 
yielded from 2,200 to 2,400 pounds per acre. 

The very small percentage of land in New England planted in 
tobacco enables the planter to set out his crop whenever the plants 
are large enough for transplanting. This is done usually from the 
15th of June to the ist of July, whether the land is moist or 
dry. In the former case the plants are set rapidly ; in the latter 
every hill is watered and the plant is protected from the sun b}; 
tufts of grass or scraps of paper weighted on two sides and bowed 
over the plant. It is considered of the utmost importance to get a 
good stand at once, so that all the plants may grow evenly and 
make a quality of tobacco of uniform texture. 

After the plants have been in their places four or five days, and 



Seed I-caf Tobacco and i/s Culture. 35 

begin to grow, the earth is loosened al)ont them and the snrface of 
tiie gronnd kept in fine tilth. Level cultivation, for the most part, is 
racticed, and a cultivator frequently used between the rows. The 
-op is cultivated three times and hoed as many before the plants 
re large enough to top, which is usually from forty-five to fifty 
ays after they have been transplanted. 

TOBACCO IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

In Pennsylvania, where the soil is more argillaceous than in 
Connecticut, it is customary to turn the ground in the fall, and 
manure is put on, as a general thing, at that time. It is an axiom 
'vith the tobacco growers of Lancaster County, the great tobacco 
: enter of the State, that tobacco land cannot be made too rich. 

After the land has been well pulverized by frequent ploughings, 
it is thrown up into ridges three and one-half and four feet apart ; 
when the ground is very rich the latter distance is preferred, though 
the former is thought to be sufftciently wide on thin soils. The dis- 
tance should, in all cases, be regulated by the probable size of the 
plant after it has reached maturity. Space enough between rows 
should be left to enable the planter to walk between without break- 
i;ig the leaves. Along these ridges indentations are made; the dis- 
tance between these varies from twenty-two to twenty-eight inches. 
I'pon these indentations the plants are set, but the indentations are 
never cut down to the general level of the field, as, in that case, 
le plants are likely to be flooded by heavy rains. The ground is 
ivcr marked both ways. The common practice in the Southern 
, tates is to mark both ways and then make hills at the points of 
r tersection. 

The field should be, ready to receive the plants when the latter 
have leaves three inches long. There is a diversity of opinion as to 
planting in dry weather, some growers being in favor of planting 
just as soon as the plants are large enough, whether the ground is 
wet or dry. When plants are set in dry ground, the work is tedious 
and costly, and great care is required. The water-cart accompanies 
the planters or a plant-setting machine is used, and water is dis^ 
tributed about the plants and this is repeated a number of times in 
A ery dry weather. The result of this frequent watering in dry 
'weather is to induce a baking of the ground about the plants, which 
checks the grov/th, and delays cultivation. When set out in moist 



36 Seed Leaf Tobacco aiid its Culture. 

weather, the plants grow off quickly, and are soon removed from 
any danger of the cut worm. 

It was the custom formerly to use a pointed stick for setting out, 
but it was found that the crowding of the roots in a small hole is a 
serious drawback to the healthy growth of the plant. More atten- 
tion is now given to this matter. The roots are spread out in their 
natural position by opening a wide place with the hand or with a 
dibble, and then covered with earth, which is gently pressed down 
upon them. A few pains-taking planters put about a half pint of 
water on the ground where the plant is to be set, and when this has 
well soaked into the earth the plant is set out. In this case no sec- 
ond water is necessary. 

A hot sun long continued often renders some artificial covering 
necessary. Pieces of paper, the leaves of other plants, or pieces of 
shingles are used for this purpose. 

Plants are often set out before they have attained a proper size. 
Nothing is gained by this, unless there are timely rains, for they will 
make more growth in the plant bed in two days than in two weeks in 
a dry field. 

After the field has been planted it should be gone over every day 
or two for the purpose of destroying the cut worms and replacing 
the plants which they have destroyed. Sickly looking plants should 
also be removed or another set by its side so as to supply it place 
in case it should die. 

CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

The cultivator or shovel-plow is run twice through each space 
between the rows, and care is taken that the earth is not thrown upon 
the plant. The hoe supplements the work of the cultivator, pul- 
verizing the earth near the plant, and is used in drawing a small 
quantity about it. All grass and weeds are carefully eradicated. The 
more rapidly the crop is worked the faster it will grow. The hoe and 
cultivator are kept going every week until the great' size of the 
leaves puts a stop to it. 

When the danger from the cut worm has been passed success- 
fully, attention is directed to the destruction of the Tobacco worm. 
The seed leaf tobacco being used altogether for cigars — making de- 
fective leaves unfit for wrappers, greatly depreciates the value of a 
crop — the plants are examined carefully two or three times a week, 
so that the eggs and small worms may be destroyed before damaging 



Seed Leaf Tobacco and its Culture. 37 

the leaf. Poisons are used for destroying the moths that lay eggs 
hy dropping some of the fluid sohition into the flowers of Jimpson 
weeds. Beds of petunias are raised in IlHnois and Wisconsin, to 
wliich the moths are attracted, when they are knocked down with 
paddles and killed. The hunt for worms continues until the tobacco 
is put in the sheds. 

TOPPING. 

In regard to topping every grower is a law unto himself. The 
number of leaves to be left upon each plant is regulated and modified 
by varieties of tobacco and soil, by seasons and the condition of the 
crop. The custom is to top about the time the blossom makes its 
appearance, which is about the first of August in the seed leaf dis- 
tricts ; others top as soon as the desired number of leaves can be 
secured. The latter is unquestionably the better practice, as in 
that case the vitality of the plant is not wasted in forming leaves and 
flowers which are not permitted to remain. When the soil is thin and 
plants backward, or, when the season is dry, low topping becomes a 
necessity. Under these circumstances, from eight to ten leaves onlv 
are left on each plant. When the soil is rich, growth strong and 
healthy, and season favorable, from twelve to sixteen leaves are 
allowed to each plant. If plants of equal size are set out at the same 
time, and the soil uniform as to fertility and exposure, the period of 
topping will not vary much in a field, and this is accounted a great 
advantage, as the crop will mature evenly, and the color and texture 
will be more uniform. 

No priming is done, as in the Southern States, but only the soiled 
or earth-parched leaves are taken off or left upon the stalk at the 
time of cutting. 

Dry weather is dreaded at topping time. Some growers prefer 
to let the lower leaves drop ofif, rather than to top in a period of 
drouth. By postponing the time of topping ripening is retarded, 
which, under the circumstances, is a very important advantage. 

Oftentimes the cupidity of the grower causes him to top too 
high, leaving more leaves than the stalk can mature. When this is 
done, and a drouth succeeds, the tobacco ripens prematurely and 
cures up a bad color. 

The tobacco in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other seed leaf 
districts is usually suckered twice — the first time within a week after 
being topped and then again just after cutting. 



38 Seed Leaf Tob( m d its Culture. 

About two or two and a half months from the time of setting- 
out the crop, it will be ready to harvest, if it has been properly culti- 
vated and the season has been propitious. In about twenty days after 
it is topped (in Wisconsin ten days), the leaves assume different 
shades of color and become somewhat brittle, and when doubled over, 
have a tendency to break. It is then ready to cut. 

In this respect the seed leaf growers have a decided advantage 
over the growers of shipping tobacco. Six weeks are required after 
topping to ripen the latter properly, and the worms and suckers have, 
in the meantime, to be subdued. 

It is thought in the seed leaf districts that the best time for cut- 
ting is when the expansion of the leaf ceases, and granulation begins. 
Experience has demonstrated the fact that if cut at this time the 
color will be darker. Early cutting places the crop beyond the reach 
of hail-storms, heavy rains and winds, and early frosts. It is thought 
best not to cut immediately after a rain, as the gum or resin secreted 
by the hair-like glands of the leaf is dissolved, and in part washed 
off. A few days of sunshine will restore this. 

The tobacco plants are cut off carefully with a sharp hatchet, or 
sawed off with a sharp saw, and laid gently down upon the ground, 
where they remain until they wilt sufficiently to be handled without 
breaking. 

From 3 o'clock until 6 in the afternoon, after the sun's rays have 
been tempered, is the best time for cutting. Should there be danger 
of sunburn the plants should be turned over or placed in piles of six 
or eight with heads towards the sun. 

After the plants are wilted they are speared on the laths. From 
five to eight plants are put upon each lath. The custom of scaffold- 
ing in the field is largely practiced. It is thought, however, that 
scaffolding in the field can be more safely dispensed with in the 
case of early-cut tobacco than with that harvested late in the sea- 
son, because during warm weather it is not likely to suffer any 
danger in the barns except from pole sweat, which can be avoided 
by giving the laths sufficient space on the tier-poles and securing 
proper ventilation. As the later-cut tobacco dries much less rapidlv, 
it is in more danger from pole-sweat and from freezing, hence the 
rapid desiccation which is obtained by exposure on the scaffolds in 
the open field is greatly to be desired late in the season. There are 



Sfcd Li'iij nro and its Cii/liiir. 39 

■^,. ,-^qv . 

those, liowevcr, who, when they have ample storage room, scaffold 
neither the late nor the early tobacco, bnt take it immediately to the 
sheds. Usually a spot for the erection of scaffolds is selected under 
the shade of trees. 

Many new methods of harvesting tobacco have been tried, among 
others a new way of attaching the tobacco stalks to the lath, which 
is claimed to possess many advantages over the method of spreading 
them. Laths heavier than those ordinarily employed are used for this 
purpose. This size is three-quarters of an inch thick, one and one- 
half or two inches wide, made of pine, poplar, or some other light 
wood, and is one of the usual length, four or four and one-half feet. 
Into this stout lath six iron or wire hooks are driven. 

Three of these are driven in each side of the lath, the first one 
four inches from the end, the next sixteen inches from the first, and 
the third sixteen inches from the ground, leaving a space of twelve 
inches from the last to the end of the lath. Hooks are driven midway 
between these on the opposite side of the lath, and one within four 
inches of farthest end of the lath, thus giving room for six large 
stalks, eight inches apart, hanging alternately on one side of the lath 
and on the other. In this way they do not interfere with one another, 
and may be hung much closer, for there is no waste of space, the 
alternate hanging filling up not only the space on the same lath but 
also between all the laths when arranged in the barn. 

There are several objections to these hooks which have prevented 
their general use. They are too expensive for the majority of to- 
bacco farmers. The principle, however, is so excellent that a 
substitute much cheaper was soon devised. Instead of iron hooks 
six penny nails are used. These are driven through the laths at 
regular intervals, alternately from one side, and then from the other, 
with a slight upward inclination to prevent the plants from falling 
off too readily. This method is equally as good a one and much 
cheaper, and it is said that no planter who has once tried it in the 
seed leaf district will be likely to give it up. 

The advantages claimed by this method of hanging tobacco over 
that of splitting the stalk, as in the South, or in spearing, as prac- 
ticed in most of the seed leaf States, are as follows : 

I. The large hole made in the Tobacco stalk by the spear has a 
tendency to dry out the stalk too rapidly at that point, and the same 
may be said of the stalk when it is split. The more slowly the stalk 



40 Seed Leaf Tobacco and its Culture. 

dries the better and more uniform the color of the leaf is likely to 

be. 

2. Time is saved, for it is easier to stick a stalk on a nail than 
to pierce it with a spear. 

3. The tobacco is not so much injured. The spear often comei 
in contact with one or two of the leaves, where the orifice is made, 
and these leaves are ruined for wrappers. 

4. The tobacco is more easily taken from the sticks when strip- 
ping time comes on. 

5. 'When once hung on the nails no other adjustment of the stalk 
is necessary. The place of each plant is definitely fixed, which is by 
no means the case when hung on laths, as the utmost care must be 
taken that they are put at regular intervals. 

The best farmers have an arrangement behind the axle of the 
tobacco wagons where the empty laths are carried. At the rear 
end of the wagon frame are iron hooks, upon which the lath is 
placed, while the stalks are attached to the nails. As fast as a lath 
is filled it is carried forward and put upon the frame of the wagon. 
In this way the tobacco is handled but once and is not thrown upon 
the ground to be picked up again, oftentimes with damaged or dirtv 
leaves. When the tobacco wagon cannot be taken through the field 
a tripod about four feet high, with iron hooks attached to the upper 
arms, is employed to hold the laths while the tobacco is put on h? 
nails. 

A boy can take the stalk from the man who cuts it ofif and 
place it where it belong on the laths. A small trestle is sometimes 
used which, though only intended for a single lath, answers the pur- 
pose admirably. 

There is no special time during which tobacco is allowed to hang 
on the scaffolds, but this time may vary from three to ten days. 
No injury is likely to occur to the tobacco while on the scaffold un- 
less heavy rains come. It is then liable to get into a "strut" and be- 
come very tender. 

The removal of the tobacco from the scaffold to the barn was, a 
few years ago, accomplished by laying the tobacco flat on a wagon 
bed, piling one stick above another. This compressed the leaves to- 
gether so much as seriously to retard successful curing. More re- 
cently in Pennsylvania a wagon has been made especially adapted 
to this work. A frame, eighteen feet long, and somewhat narrower 



Sffd Leaf Tobacco ixmi i/s Culture 41 

than the length of the laths, the upper rails of the frame having a 
cleat nailed or battened on the outer edges, and projecting above 
them an inch or more to prevent the laths shifting endwise, is placed 
upon a low wheeled wagon, and the laths are transformed from the 
scaffold to the wagon and hung upon the frame work. They are then 
easily removed to the shed or barn without injury to the plants. 

When taken from the field the tobacco is hung up at once in the 
barn. The barn is tilled from the top downwards, in sections. The 
wagon is drawn under the sections to be filled. The best regulated 
barns have an arrangement of ropes and pulleys by which the laths 
are hauled to their places at the top of the barn, and to all the 
intermediate tiers. Generally, however, the laths, filled with tobacco, 
are passed from hand to hand upwards and placed upon the tiers. 
The leaves are well separated, and the plants arranged on the lath as 
each one is put in its permanent position. Placing the laths at proper 
distances is also important. If too close, "pole burn" will result; if 
too wide apart valuable space is lost. From six to eight inches is con- 
sidered the proper distance for large and small tobacco. 

An old method of putting tobacco in the sheds was to dispense 
with the laths altogether, and tie with twine each plant to the tier 
pole. The plants were tied on alternate sides of movable tier-poles, 
from eight to twelve inches apart on a side. Some few farmers still 
adhere to this ancient method and discard the lath and spear alto- 
gether. It requires much more time to harvest tobacco in this way, 
but it is claimed that the number of leaves damaged is much less, as 
each plant when tied to the poles has its distance distinctly marked, 
and as the poles are put a foot to fifteen inches apart, currents of 
air can circulate more freely among the plants. Hanging in this 
manner, however, is a very tedious process, and though it may have 
some advantages over the spear and lath systems, the greater care and 
the longer time demanded at a period when time is the most valu- 
able to the tobacco growers have, to a considerable extent, brought 
it into disuse. 

CURING SEED LEAF TOBACCO. 

In the process of curing proper ventilation is an all-important 
factor. The question of ventilation is all important and must be 
carefully provided for in the curing houses. 

Some dampness during the curing process is believed to be es- 
sential to the proper curing of tobacco. In other words, frequent 



42 Seed LeaJ Tobacco and its Culture. 

rains are desirable, alternated with dry weather. Planters dread a 
drought during the period of curing as much as during the growing 
season. The rule governing the matter is that the tobacco shall be- 
come damp at least once a week. If the weather be very moist the 
doors are kept closed to prevent pole sweating ; if it is very dry so as 
to hasten the curing process too rapidly the doors are closed and the 
floors of the barns dampened. 

The periodical dampenings cause the juices to permeate the leaf 
and promote uniformity of color; but if the tobacco is subjected to 
too much moisture there is a tendency to create mould. The texture 
of the leaf also is impaired by the excessive absorption of water 
which, when it evaporates, carries away some portion of the oil that 
gives it softness and silkiness. 

The most difficult problem in wet weather is how to prevent in- 
jury from these sources without the use of artificial heat. The prac- 
tice is to close the shed securely and shut out as much moisture as 
possible. 

A very intelligent grower in New Haven County, says : "The 
openings should be made at the top of each tier horizontally in- 
stead of perpendicularly as the old style is. The building should be 
constructed so that it can be shut up tight in very dry or windy 
weather. Give plenty of air for two or three weeks after it is first 
housed, then leL the tobacco cure slowly by closmg the doors during 
the day and opening them at night, so that the tobacco may receive 
moisture. This will give a uniform color." 

Some planters prefer to keep doors open day and night for two 
weeks after hanging, that the dampness of the night may equalize 
the dryness from the day. 

Peruvian guano, used as a fertilizer, is thought to induce dark 
colors, and gypsum sprinkled on the plant while growing will cause 
the cured product to assume a darker color. Thin leaves, very fine 
and delicate, are always disposed to cure up light colors. 

It requires from ten to twelve weeks for seed leaf tobacco to cure 
fully. When the leaves and stalks are fully cured so that no green is 
visible a time is selected for taking down when the tobacco is very 
moist. 

The leaves are stripped off without assorting and packed in balei 
a foot square and three or four feet long. The bales are made bv 
taking a box of the proper size and lining the bottom and sides with 



Seed Leaf Tobacco and its Culture. 43 

paper, under which strings are passed and brought out on the sides 
of the box. The leaves are laid on the paper in the box in a double 
course, the butts of the leaves to the ends of the box, and the tails 
overlapping the center. When the box has been filled, no pressure 
being used, the paper is folded over the top of the tobacco in the box 
and the strings tied. The bundle is then lifted out and put in piles. 

Each bale will weigh about forty pounds. It is ready then for 
delivery to the packers who usually buy from the planters. The pack- 
ing establishments are very numerous, and are provided with assort- 
ing tables, prizes, and other conveniences for handling the tobacco. 

The quality of the crop is determined by the wrappers. If the 
proportion of wrappers, as compared with the other grades, is large, 
the price will be correspondingly high, the quality, size, texture and 
color of the wrapper determining the price. A large, coarse wrapper, 
for example, is not so desirable as a smaller but finer one ; nor is a 
fine wrapper of bad color as valuable as one coarse in texture but of 
uniform color. The best wrappers are characterized by fineness of 
fibre, largeness of leaf, uniformity of fashionable color and a satin 
finish ; are free from white veins and have an elasticity and strength 
of leaf sufficient to bear the strain required in wrapping cigars. 

Twelve pounds of the best Connecticut wrappers will make i,ooo 
cigar wrappers. Ten pounds of the best Havana seed wrappers will 
make 1,000 cigar wrappers. The latter, though not of such large size, 
will yield more wrappers to the pound, and is, therefore, more valu- 
able, being worth about 5 cents per pound more. It is fast taking 
the place of the larger varieties on this account. 

ASSORTING CIGAR TOBACCOS. 

In assorting the seed leaf, four grades are made, as follows : 

1. Wrappers; constituting, in a good crop, one-half; only per- 
fect leaves go into this grade. 

2. Medium wrappers ; constituting one-fourth of the crop ; leaves 
with a few blemishes are admitted, 

3. Seconds ; or binders ; constituting three-sixteenths of the crop, 
leaves torn, with some good places, make this grade. 

4. Fillers ; constituting one-sixteenth of the crop, and made up 
of ground leaves and those badly worm-eaten. 

Havana seed is graded somewhat differently. Wrappers are 
graded into two lengths, viz. : 



44 Seed Leaf Tobacco atid iis Culture. 

1. Long wrappers. 

2. Short wrappers. 

These ought to constitute three-fourths of the crop while the 
seconds and fillers make up the remainder. This Havana seed i;" 
grown from seed three or four years removed from the imported 
Havana seed. The farther removed the nearer it approximates the 
Connecticut seed leaf. The first planting from imported seeds grows 
very tall with small leaves. Every succeeding year the leaves in- 
crease in size. It is thought the highest quality is produced the fourth 
year, as the quality of wrappers is then at a maximum, the leaf of 
good size, the fibres fine, and the finish silky. 

At the time of assorting, the tobacco, unless already tied into 
hands by the farmer, is made into bundles of about sixteen leaves and 
bulked down in two courses, the heads being turned outwards and 
the tails overlapping about six inches in the middle, the idea being 
to expose the heads so that the fat stems may be dried out. The 
ends of the bulks are usually protected by boards. Bulks are made 
on temporary platforms raised a few inches above ground so that the 
air can circulate freely under them and are from four to five feet 
wide, and of any length desired. Two bundles are laid down at a 
time until a course is run on one side of the platform. 

A similar course is run on the other side, and the tails are lapped 
so as to equalize the height in the middle of the bulk. The middle 
should never be suffered to fall below the level of the bulk. The 
condition of the tobacco v/hen bulked is very moist, a much higher 
degree of moisture being permitted with seed leaf than with shipping 
tobacco. After the bulk has been built up to the height of four feet 
it is covered with blankets and weighted down, in which condition 
the tobacco remains for a short time when it is ready to be packed 
in boxes. Should the sweating process begin in the bulk, it should 
not be disturbed, for if disturbed and the tobacco exposed to the 
atmosphere when heated, it will be greatly injured and become harsh, 
which no subsequent manipulation will remedy. A cord of rich 
tobacco, well packed and weighted, will weigh a ton. 

A great deal of care is required in assorting. Indeed, none but 
experts should be put to this work. For this reason but few grow- 
ers assort their own crops, but prefer to sell it in bales as already 
described. 



Seed Leaf Tobacco and its Culture. 45 

DEALERS. 

Dealers examine tlie crop very thoroughly before buying, and 
even while it is growing agents ride from farm to farm to examine 
the crop in the field, the culture, size, amount of damage done by 
worms and n . Even the regularity or irregularity of the crop is 
noted. After the crops are housed the same agents will visit the 
sheds to see <"hat there is no pole-sweated, wind-shaken or weather- 
beaten tobacco, and also to examine the uniformity or diversity of 
color. After the leaves are picked from the stalk there is another 
examination to note its condition. The vigilance on the part of deal- 
ers has had a happy efifect in stimulating planters to handle their 
crops with the greatest care. 

It is a noticeable fact that in the seed leaf districts the leaves are 
not broken oflf, as in the shipping districts, but slipped ofif, carrying 
a part of the stalk with them. In a large crop this will make a very 
perceptible addition to the weight. The seed leaf tobacco is always 
handled when very moist, indeed so moist that it would be considered 
hazardous to risk th^, condition in shipping districts. This high con- 
dition is thought to be n'^cessary to protect the wrappers from break- 
age. Too much humidity in the crop on the other hand will produce 
a fermentation so excessive as to destroy the vitality of the tobacco 
and induce a mould which will impart a disagreeable odor. 

Good judgment is required to determine the proper order. If 
bulked in very cold weather the amount of humidity in the leaf is apt 
to be underestimated, and if a warm spell supervenes the tobacco 
will be endangered. The plan pursued by the best managers is to 
see first of all that the stems or midribs are well cured, and that 
they do not hold a disproportionate amount of moisture, as compared 
with the leaf. Should the leafy part be very dry, and the stem be 
very moist, there is more danger from injury by excessive fermen- 
tation than if the condition of the leaf and midrib were reversed. 
The proper condition is to have the leaf soft and pliant, and the 
midrib just sufBciently moist to handle without breaking. 

The following w^ill show the sizes of boxes used for the various 

grades : 

SEED LEAF. 

Length. Capacity Pounds. 

Wrappers 3 ft. 8 in. x 28 in. square 400 

Med. Wrappers. . 3 f t. 8 in. x 28 in. square 375 

Seconds 3 ft. 3 in. to 3 ft. 6 in. x 28 in square 350 

Fillers 3 ft. x 28 in. square 325 



46 Seed Leaf Tobacco and its Culture. 

HAVANA SEED. 

Length. Capacity Pounds. 

Wrappers 3 ft. 6 in. x 28 in 375 

Short Wrappers. .3 ft. 3 in. x 28 in 350 

Seconds 3 ft. 3 in. x 28 in 350 

Fillers 3 ft. x 28 in 325 

Some pressure is required to get the quantity mentioned in the 
boxes. This pressure is appUed with a double lever press resting 
upon wheels so that it be may readily moved to any part of the buUd^ 
ing. 

The tobacco is always packed lengthwise the box, never cross- 
wise. The following directions for packing are taken from a Miam- 
isburg (Ohio) paper and fully accord with the information T 
gathered on the subject: 

Have your boxes made to suit the growth to be packed — that is, 
if the leaf is small do not attempt to pack it in a forty-inch box ; 
have the cases adapted to the size of the leaf. 

Have the boards at the ends of the cases narrow, with spaces of 
one-fourth inch between the boards to provide for evaporation and 
prevent damage. 

Never, under any circumstances cross-pack in the boxes — 
damaged tobacco is always sure to result. When the leaf is so 
small as to require cross-packing even in a small case, nail a parti- 
tion in the center of the box, making a double packing with the butts 
facing the ends, as usual, and also facing the partition. Bore holes 
along the partition on both sides of the box. 

Use headboards in packing sufficient to keep the butts of the to- 
bacco away from the ends of the cases about one inch. 

Put tobacco into cases in just the proper condition — neither too 
low nor too high. This is a delicate question, unless the planter has 
been careful to note the condition of his crop all along, and if the 
leaf is packed, as is often the case, in cold sheds, the packer is in 
danger of being misled. In a cold atmosphere, very wet leaf will 
appear to be in a proper condition, but the moment the temperature 
is raised it will reek with moisture. The packing should be done in 
a temperate atmosphere, or, if necessity compels, an armful of leaf 
can be tested in a warm room to ascertain the amount of moisture 
retained by the leaf. The danger from this source is often increased 
by the application of water while bulking in cold weather. 

About 300 pounds to the case, net, is a good basis for Zimmer's 



SiYi/ Leaf Tobacco and its Cul/uir. 47 

Spanish, when the leaf is in proper condition. If the leaf is high, 
less ; and if low more pressure is required, but nearly all the mis- 
chief that results in sweating is due to attempting to remedy too 
high or too low conditions by variations in packing. 

See that the leaf goes into the cases in proper order — lap well — 
leaving no vacant spaces to attract moisture; use headboards, pro- 
, ide spaces between boards at ends of cases ; put on firm pressure — 
tJj^t is, don't mash or squeeze — and your crop will come out with 
Hying colors. 

SWEATING. 

^ The tobacco is always packed with headboards, which are with- 
drawn when the boxes are full, leaving the space of an inch between 
the heads of the tobacco and the inside ends of the box. The boxes 
are turned upon the sides and put in a secure place, after being nailed 
up and left to undergo the process of fermentation or sweating. 

This process begins in June and continues for two or three 
months, during which time the tobacco reaches a temperature of 150 
degrees or even more. All cases are marked with the weight, qual- 
ity, name of grower, etc. The sweating process ripens tobacco as 
fermentation does wine. It perfects its color, improves the flavor, 
«ubdues the acid and pungent taste, increases its burning qualities, 
and gives it, when well done, a shining, oily surface, which is called 
'satin face." All tobacco does not go through this trying process 
well, as all wines do not ferment well. Some of it comes out with a 
^'ull, lifeless appearance. 

Tobacco, like wine, will often go through a second fermentation 
the ensuing year with an improvement in quality. It is said that not 
over one per cent, is injured by over-sweating. The greatest loss 
sustained is in the reduced weight, which amounts to ten or fifteen 
■nounds in the hundred, varying with the thinness or thickness of the 
leaf, the quantity of gum, etc. 

After it has gone through the sweat the ends of the boxes are 

opened and samples are drawn from different parts of the boxes by 

1 inspectors who guarantee that the samples are a fair average. These 

•samples are labeled and carefully kept in close boxes and sales are 

lade by them. 



PROPERTY LIBRARY 

H. C. State College 



^ S.OM 






